The Cornish miners who brought football and pasties to Mexico

Expansion

Factuality

Ownership

Long before Mexico and England were in eighth-finals in the 2026 World Cup, both countries already had a deep union in modern football. By the end of the 19th century, miners from Cornwall, England, arrived in Hidalgo to work in the mines of Real del Monte and Pachuca. In addition to machinery and knowledge for the extraction of silver, they brought with them a custom that was just beginning to expand in Europe: playing football.